1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for locating a dense, isolated sub-graph from a weighted graph. More specifically, the sub-graph is selected based on the following criteria: (1) the number of nodes inside the sub-graph is relatively small; (2) the sum of the weights associated with the edges inside the sub-graph is relatively large; and (3) the sum of the weights associated with the edges crossing between the sub-graph and the rest of the weighted graph is relatively small.
2. Background of the Invention
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, generates a significant amount of revenue each year. E-commerce may take various forms. Online shopping, Internet auction, e-marketing, etc. are but a few examples of common forms of e-commerce.
Often, business and marketing researches are conducted for the purpose of increasing e-commerce revenue. Usually, such researches analyze historical data representing different aspects and characteristics of e-commerce collected during a particular period of time in order to determine possible improvements. The data analyzed is typical and representative of the form of e-commerce under study.
However, analyzing e-commerce data is not always easy, due to the massive amount of data generated and collected during various transactions. For example, it may be very difficult, even impossible, to attempt optimization over a large set of data. Instead, it may be more practical and economical to focus on a smaller subset of data for analysis. Similarly, it may be very difficult to find behavioral patterns or relationships from a large dataset.
Accordingly, what are needed are systems and methods to isolate a meaningful subset of data from a large dataset for the purpose of research and analysis.